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Spotter for mountain goat hunt??? |
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Maverick2
Optics Apprentice Joined: December/30/2013 Location: N. Idaho Status: Offline Points: 176 |
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Posted: May/23/2016 at 13:15 |
I managed to draw on a Mountain Goat hunt for northern Idaho this coming fall. I've never hunted for sheep or goats before, but believe I'm pretty well equipped with the exception of a spotting scope. I know little about spotters, but suspect this is going to be all about compromises (a desire to minimize the size/weight of the spotter due to backpacking in this terrain -- vs -- price -- vs -- mag range, objective size, and optical quality). What would you gentlemen recommend in the $1k or less range? For what it's worth, I'll also be carrying a pair of 8x30 Maven binos and a Leica ERi 2.5-10x42 scope to compliment whichever spotter I go with. Thanks. |
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Sparky
Optics Master Extraordinaire Joined: July/15/2007 Location: SD Status: Offline Points: 4569 |
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This would be my first choice.
http://swfa.com/Vortex-11-33x50-Razor-HD-Spotting-Scope-P61033.aspx Second choice. Which I own. http://swfa.com/Nikon-13-30x50-ED-Fieldscope-P42413.aspx |
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Rancid Coolaid
MODERATOR Joined: January/19/2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 9318 |
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Guided or solo hunt?
I would bet you spend much more time on your binos than on a spotter, but a light-weight spotter would be nice. Be advised that good glass and light weight can be tricky in any price range.
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Maverick2
Optics Apprentice Joined: December/30/2013 Location: N. Idaho Status: Offline Points: 176 |
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That has high appeal -- any likely weaknesses for this spotter in my application?
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Maverick2
Optics Apprentice Joined: December/30/2013 Location: N. Idaho Status: Offline Points: 176 |
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Solo -- hunt is in my backyard (relatively) so it's easy for me to spend a lot of time out there. I also tend to think I'll have more time behind my binos than the spotter, but am guessing I'll want something that will allow me to differentiate between small, medium, and large billies from afar w/o having to invest in 1/2 day of hiking to get close enough to make that distinction with binos?
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koshkin
MODERATOR Dark Lord of Optics Joined: June/15/2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 13182 |
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The best 50mm spotter I have seen to date is the Razor HD linked above. Hands down.
The most compact decent spotter is Athlon Ares 7.5-22.5x50ED. I am currently testing the Ares and it is excellent for the money and crazy small. That having been said, the Razor is definitely better at high mag and is within your price range. Now, aside from price, you sorta need to work out how heavy/large of a spotter are you willing to carry. As nice as the 50mm Razor is, at high mag, a similar quality 60mm or 65mm spotter will be better. ILya
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Bitterroot Bulls
Optics Master Extraordinaire Joined: May/07/2009 Location: Montana Status: Offline Points: 3416 |
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I also recommend the Razor 50 for your use and price range. I have that model and use it for backpack hunts often. It is so small, that I take it even when I don't plan on using a spotter. It has come in handy in that way more than once.
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-Matt
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Peddler
Optics God Joined: July/04/2012 Location: Oswego,NY Status: Offline Points: 13526 |
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Both are opinions you can take to the bank!
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When you are dead, you don't know you are dead.It is difficult only for others.
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Maverick2
Optics Apprentice Joined: December/30/2013 Location: N. Idaho Status: Offline Points: 176 |
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Not having hunted for goats before (or really in this fashion at all where there's a tangible weight penalty to moving up in class) that's the question I'm looking to answer with input from experienced sheep and goat hunters. Is the 50 mm Razor likely to do what I want out there, or am I going to be left "wanting" a larger objective and higher mag range, even at the expense of more weight to pack around. Input so far would indicate the Razor is a pretty good fit. |
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Bitterroot Bulls
Optics Master Extraordinaire Joined: May/07/2009 Location: Montana Status: Offline Points: 3416 |
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The Razor 50 is the best 50mm spotter I have used. However, the best 65mm spotters are a notable optical performance improvement over it at higher magnifications, and the best 85mm spotters similarly out perform the 65mm models. These performance gains come at the cost of size and weight. Then of course bigger spotters also need bigger tripods. Another thing to consider is most bigger quality spotters are well over your price range.
The Razor 50 is certainly good enough to be a valuable tool on a goat hunt. The bigger spotters may be better in some situations, especially low light and really long distances. The question for you is how important is weight? Are you backpacking in camp and space and weight are at a premium? Do you have a partner for your hunt that can share the load? Personally, if it were a solo backpack hunt, I would take the Razor 50 and save the weight and pack space for that big old billy's cape and backstraps. Good luck on your hunt!
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-Matt
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Maverick2
Optics Apprentice Joined: December/30/2013 Location: N. Idaho Status: Offline Points: 176 |
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Thanks for the info. Hunting so close to where we live, I expect I'll do a lot of hunting on 2, 3, or 4 day excursions centered around weekends, mixing in day trips with overnighters (the latter will require me to backpack a camp in). It's all going to depend on how far from civilization I find the goats... There's likely a rotating cast of characters that will tag along at times, but I also expect there will be trips out there where I'm solo, so for planning, I'm inclined to err on the side of less weight which makes the Razor 50 an attractive option.
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